Abstract
This article investigates the existing international hierarchy employing expert survey as its primary method. 'Authority hierarchy' and 'power status hierarchy,' the two existing research traditions of hierarchy studies, are briefly introduced. We demonstrate a gap between basic research on power status, emphasizing its social nature, and applied case studies, primarily relying on purely material indicators of a country's capabilities, such as the GDP and CINC. In times of rapid hierarchical shifts, there is a need for a more nuanced and holistic approach. The article suggests placing hierarchy studies onto the ontological foundation of Niklas Luhmann's Differentiation Theory to overcome these problems. We trace the international society's segmentary differentiation, stratificatory differentiation (status hierarchy), and functional differentiation (specialization). The paper argues that the functional roles of states and their positions in the international hierarchy are interconnected. The hierarchy of states' roles, resulting from functional differentiation, is understood in terms of authority hierarchy. In order to lay the ground for further research, three valuable insights of states in the international hierarchy. Firstly, we categorize 26 countries as belonging to one of the power status categories (small power, middle power, great power, superpower) as of autumn 2021 based on the survey results. We calculate indices operationalizing power, roles, public goods provision, and revisionism for the states in the survey. Secondly, the paper presents experts' evaluations of the importance of various valued attributes (such as the size of the economy, military might, international prestige, autonomy, etc.) for different power status categories. Thirdly, we suggest a novel approach linking a country's position in the international hierarchy to its functional roles. We use correlation analysis to test the hypothesis and compare the roles index to other popular power status indicators.
Highlights
Despite International Relations (IR) theory's long-standing focus on anarchy, many recent studies have investigated the hierarchy
This study aims at creating a single approach of applying Differentiation Theory to the study of International Hierarchy, which would not be limited to one power status category
As for the importance of the criteria for the categorization of states by their power status into superpowers, great, middle, and small powers, the researchers opted for a strong military, a big economy, and self-sufficiency in critical technologies and strategic resources as the main criteria of classifying as a superpower, with military might being at the top of the list
Summary
Despite International Relations (IR) theory's long-standing focus on anarchy, many recent studies have investigated the hierarchy. As the international order is undergoing a profound transformation, there is a growing need to understand the shifts in the international hierarchy. The existing approaches to hierarchy lack consistency, and this study aims to improve them. The first one reviews the literature on theoretical approaches to hierarchy, emphasizing gaps and methodological and ontological problems. In order to bridge these gaps, the second section anchors the study of international hierarchy to New Systems Theory, which applies Niklas Luhmann's Differentiation Theory to IR. We hypothesize that the states' roles in functional domains of international society and their position in the international hierarchy are interdependent. The third and fourth sections outline the methodology (expert survey) and present the results of this study. The final section presents an 'impactful role' criterion and outlines a possible framework for integrating existing international hierarchy approaches
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